Republicans Pledge To Blow Up The Deficit

September 24, 2010 10:08 am ET —
Chris Harris

Since President Obama was sworn into office, Republicans
have attempted to compensate for their lack of solutions by feigning anger about
the budget deficit. Rep. Paul Ryan
(R-WI), for example, uses the issue to stress the importance of his draconian
"Roadmap for America's
Future" plan to dismantle Social Security and Medicare.

In the book Young Guns,
Ryan writes:

Thanks to this administration's spending, our debt as a
percentage of our economy is projected to exceed 60 percent in 2010, the
highest in over a half a century. By the
end of the next decade, debt will consume 90 percent — 90 percent! — of our GDP. The
irony is that, while those advocating an expanded entitlement state would like
to make America more like Europe, the levels of debt created by their policies are
too high for us to join the European Union.

America
is on a dangerous downward path, but it's not too late to get back on the
upward road to security and solid growth. We have a handful of years to save
our children and grandchildren from a life of economic decline and insecurity.
[Young Guns, p 122]

Ryan's
lack of sincerity (or blatant hypocrisy) is laughable. Just yesterday, he made the rounds on cable
television to promote the GOP's "Pledge to America." Rather than aggressively
fight to reduce the deficit, the "Pledge" makes it much, much worse.

In
the above passage from Young Guns,
Ryan fiercely attacks President Obama for heading down a "dangerous downward
path" by allowing debt to reach "90 percent!" of GDP. Yet the Ryan-endorsed "Pledge" would
exacerbate the problem.

According
to analysis
by the Center for American Progress, the "Pledge" would result in deficits that
are $1.3 trillion higher than the
president's budget, with debt exceeding 93 percent — 93 percent! — of our GDP.

The "Pledge to America" budget would mean $11.1
trillion in deficits over the next 10 years. By 2020, the federal budget
deficit would be 6.3 percent of gross domestic product, the federal debt would
exceed 93 percent of GDP, and interest payments on the debt would be more than
$1 trillion a year. The budget deficit would be about $200 billion larger in
2020 under the "Pledge to America" plan than it would be under President Barack
Obama's budget, and over the next 10 years deficits would be $1.5 trillion
higher than under the president's budget.

While Republicans huff and puff about the deficit, their plan to extend tax cuts for the rich
would cost $700 billion! Rather than
adding $700 billion to our national debt by giving tax breaks to people who
don't need them, Congress should do more to create jobs, protect Social
Security and Medicare, and start paying down the deficit.